Portable forms support

ABSTRACT

A portable support for retaining groups of business or data cards in an upright inclined manner, permitting their being conveniently inspected, &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;thumbed&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; through and otherwise handled as necessary for varied business purposes. The support is of generally triangular cross section, constructed of high friction material such as rubber or plastic, and provided with plural raised projections near each apex.

United States Patent 1 1 1 1 3,746,296 Dean et a1. July 17, 1973 1PORTABLE FORMS SUPPORT 1,875,288 8/1932 Welk et a1. 4. 211/43 2,225,83012/1940 Harris 211/42 UX [75] Invemm: Caru- Dean Swthbrldge; David2,326,241 8/1943 Martin 248/441 x Wright, Shrewsbury, both of Mass.2,651,927 9 1953 Mullins 248/373 x [73] Assignee: Barry WrightCorporation,

Watertown, Mass. Primary Examiner-William H. Schultz [22] Filed Oct 201971 Attorney-Milton E. Gilbert 21 A 119219109 7 l 1 pp 0 57 ABSTRACT 52U.S. c1 248/441 211/43 211/50 A retaining business 51 1111.01 .A47 b65/00 data cards in an upright inclined manner Permitting 58 Field ofSearch 211/42 43 49 R their being conveniently imputed 21 1/50. 248/37through and otherwise handled as necessary for varied business purposes.The support is of generally triangu- [56] Referen'ces Cited lar crosssection, constructed of high friction material such as rubber orplastic, and provided with plural UNITED STATES PATENTS raisedprojections near each apex. D26,3l9 11/1896 Wood 248/38 X 1,370,2793/1921 Burzynski 211/43 6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Pmzmmwm $076,296

HNVENTORS DAVID M WRIGHT CARL J. DEAN ATTORNEYS PORTABLE FORMS SUPPORTBACKGROUND AND SUMMARY This invention generally relates to supports usedfor the holding and retaining of groups of business data cards or forms,such as punched cards, whereby the cards may be selected, handled, andobserved after being removed from file drawers in a convenient andsimplified manner.

With the number of computers and data processors in use continuouslyincreasing, the quantity of data cards being used has progressivelyproliferated. This increased application of cards has required that thedata cards be made smaller in size to permit greater numbers of suchcards to be stored in available space facilities.

However, the smaller cards are more difficult to manually handle andthumb through and require various aids to assist in their selection andhandling.

Additionally, for the purpose of efficiently storing the maximumquantity of such small cards, it is preferred that the file drawers befilled to or near capacity with such cards. For searching or selectingpurposes it is therefore necessary that groups of the cards be firstremoved from their storage drawer and then searched or thumbed throughoutside of such drawer, employing for example the flat surface of anearby table or cabinet as a base support.

The present invention is for the purpose of providing portable uprightsupports for retaining groups of such cards in a stacked together andupright inclined position outside of their file drawer so that they maybe readily and conveniently handled and searched.

Generally according to a preferred embodiment, the support is molded asan integral unit of rubber or other high friction and moderately densematerial having a generally triangular shape in cross section and beingprovided with enlarged apex regions. Raised projections on each of theenlarged apices are provided to assist in retaining the data cardswithout slippage. These supports are symmetrically constructed with nopreferred orientation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating apreferred embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a similar perspective view and showing a pair of such supportsretaining a group of business data cards for inspection, and

FIG. 3 is a further perspective view showing a singlesupport.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in FIG. I, apreferred filing card support according to the invention is formed of asolid member molded of rubber or other suitable high surface frictionmaterial, having medium or high density and weight, and having agenerally triangular cross section.

The member 10 is generally symmetrical about its longitudinal axis andtherefore can be universally arranged with apy two pair of its legsstabily resting on a flat support and with the third leg oriented upwardas shown in FIG. 2.

The apex portions ll, 12, and 13 provided at the three ends of member 10are preferably bulbous and enlarged, as shown. Therefore when aninclined stack of data cards 14 is supported against member 10, thecards contact the upper and lower bulbous apex regions only, leaving aspace or recess between the cards and the central portion of the supportmember 10. This spaced region permits the insertion of the fingersbehind the stacked cards so that the cards may be easily and quicklygrasped to place them against the support or remove them from thesupport.

To assist in non-slipping support of the cards, these enlarged apexregions ll, 12, and 13 are also provided with outstanding projections 15and 16 to engage the cards. As shown, these projections may be a pair,or more, of spaced apart ridges or ribs having a rectangular crosssection with abrupt edges.

The use of such supports 10 on a base to retain a collection of businessdata cards is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Since the cards 14 are retained atan inclined angle to the supports there is a natural tendency for themto slide downward and away from the support 10. The high frictionprovided by the outstanding ribs 15 and 16 of rubber prevent this fromoccuring. Thus a pair of supports may be used as shown in FIG. 2. Wherethe cards are carefully set down to lean against both the upper andlower pairs of ribs only one support need be used as shown in FIG. 3.

It will be apparent that many variations may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of this invention. Accordingly this inventionshould be considered as limited only by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A portable support for data cards adapted for substantiallynon-slipping detachable engagement with a table or other flat surfaceand providing a substantially non-slip surface for supporting said cardsin an inclined upright orientation comprising:

a symmetrical elongated member of relatively high surface frictionmaterial and having in crosssection a substantially triangular shapewith a projecting leg at each of its three apices, each of said legsbeing bulbous in shape and sized so that a recess exists behind a planetangent to the surfaces of any pair of such apices,

and spaced projections extending from the surface of each bulbous leg tofurther prevent slippage of a data card resting against said support,said projections extending lengthwise of said member.

2. A support according to claim 1 wherein said spaced projectionsconsist of spaced apart parallel ribs extending from the opposite sidesof each leg, with the ribs on one leg disposed at an acute angle tothose ribs extending from the next adjoining leg.

3. A support according to claim 1 wherein said member is molded of arubber.

4. A portable support according to claim 1 wherein said member has asubstantially uniform cross-section throughout substantially its entirelength.

5. A portable support for data cards adapted for substantiallynon-slipping detachable engagement with a table or other flat surfaceand providing a substantially non-slip surface for supporting said datacards in an inclined upright orientation said support comprising:

a symmetrical elongate member made of a relatively high surface frictionmaterial, said member having three apex portions and three side surfaceseach extending between two of said apex portions, said apex portions andsaid side surfaces being arranged so that said member has a generallytriangularly 3 4 shaped cross-section, said apex portions being bulribsformed integral with and projecting outwardly bous in shape so that aspace exists between a plane of the opposite sides of each apex portion,said ribs tangent to any two of said apex portions and the beingparallel and extending lengthwise of said side surface that extendsbetween said any two member.

apex portions, said apex sections being of uniform 5 6. A supportaccording to claim 5 wherein said ribs cross-section along substantiallythe entire length have abrupt longitudinally extending edges. of saidmember, and at least a pair of spaced apart

1. A portable support for data cards adapted for substantiallynon-slipping detachable engagement with a table or other flat surfaceand providing a substantially non-slip surface for supporting said cardsin an inclined upright orientation comprising: a symmetrical elongatedmember of relatively high surface friction material and having incross-section a substantially triangular shape with a projecting leg ateach of its three apices, each of said legs being bulbous in shape andsized so that a recess exists behind a plane tangent to the surfaces ofany pair of such apices, and spaced projections extending from thesurface of each bulbous leg to further prevent slippage of a data cardresting against said support, said projections extending lengthwise ofsaid member.
 2. A support according to claim 1 wherein said spacedprojections consist of spaced apart parallel ribs extending from theopposite sides of each leg, with the ribs on one leg disposed at anacute angle to those ribs extending from the next adjoining leg.
 3. Asupport according to claim 1 wherein said member is molded of a rubber.4. A portable support according to claim 1 wherein said member has asubstantially uniform cross-section throughout substantially its entirelength.
 5. A portable support for data cards adapted for substantiallynon-slipping detachable engagement with a table or other flat surfaceand providing a substantially non-slip surface for supporting said datacards in an inclined upright orientation said support comprising: asymmetrical elongate member made of a relatively high surface frictionmaterial, said member having three apex portions and three side surfaceseach extending between two of said apex portions, said apex portions andsaid side surfaces being arranged so that said member has a generallytriangularly shaped cross-section, said apex portions being bulbous inshape so that a space exists between a plane tangent to any two of saidapex portions and the side surface that extends between said any twoapex portions, said apex sections being of uniform cross-section alongsubstantially the entire length of said member, and at least a pair ofspaced apart ribs formed integral with and projecting outwardly of theopposite sides of each apex portion, said ribs being parallel andextending Lengthwise of said member.
 6. A support according to claim 5wherein said ribs have abrupt longitudinally extending edges.